Freemasonry: The Shocking Truth

Freemasonry is the subject of a hundred rumours: It’s the power behind the throne, the Illuminati who rule the west and pull the strings… It’s the Knights Templar, after they went into hiding… It’s just there to give pensioners something social to do… It’s the work of the Devil himself… It’s the resting place of terrible occult powers… It’s a charity group… It’s the world’s oldest secret society…

The answer you’ll get from Masonic bodies themselves is that the Craft is “a peculiar system of morality, veiled in allegory, and illuminated by symbols.” Which doesn’t really help crush any of the rumours.

The truth is that Freemasonry is a very loose collection of fraternal societies, devoted to the common goal of helping its members better themselves morally and spiritually. Ritual dramas, like archaic plays laden with allegorical symbols, illustrate the society’s principles for its members. The only requirements for membership are that you are adult, choose to enter freely, and believe in a higher power of some sort – after all, there’s not much point seeking spiritual betterment if you don’t believe in a spiritual dimension to the world.

Freemason's Hall, Great Queen St., London, by Steve Cadman

There’s a popular but mistaken belief that Freemasonry is exclusively male only. Talking about ‘Freemasonry’ as a whole is a bit like talking about ‘Golf’. There are lots of Masonic groups. Some are male only, some are female only, and some are mixed sex. In fact, there’s almost no generalities you can draw about Masonry, other than the interest in self-improvement and charitable work, and the use of symbolic ritual.

Another common but faulty belief is that Freemasonry has some sort of political or financial power, or that it is hiding a secretive inner cult. There are undoubtedly rich and powerful Masons — as there are poor and disenfranchised ones. Rich and powerful people have competing interests and intentions; occasionally they work together or against each other. Freemasons, in general, tend to be pretty pleasant, both to each other and to everyone else, but they’re no better at collusion and conspiracy than, say, book of the month clubs. Masonic law actually strictly forbids members from indulging in any favouritism, nepotism or cronyism, and behind-the-scenes dealing can get Masons thrown out.

It’s not especially secret, either. Lodges tend to be listed in phone books, and to have dedicated web pages. Members are welcome to tell other people of their affiliation. They are asked not to give out the names of other members without express permission, but that’s about it. There’s no central register of members of course, because there’s no central anything. Many Lodges have annual or bi-annual charity parades. The only secret Freemasonry still has is the ways Masons can recognise each other – everything else, including detailed ritual scripts is freely available – and those are all easy to find on the web.

The last major misunderstanding is that Freemasonry is a religion. Quite the opposite. It claims no expertise or answers in weighty matters, provides no techniques for contacting spiritual realms, offers no dogma or history, and makes no requirements. It suggests you try to be a better person, but leaves it up to you to decide how. In fact, all religious and political discussion is firmly banned from all Masonic meetings, on the grounds that these things can be divisive where people of different beliefs are gathered together.

So what actually is Freemasonry? One of the German handbooks describes it as “an activity of closely united men who [...] work for the welfare of mankind, striving morally to ennoble themselves and others and thereby bring about a universal league of mankind.” The simple truth is that Freemasonry is a path, clothed in the trappings of the ancient stone-mason’s craft, blind to faith, ethnicity and social standing, which leads towards morality, humanity and love. The benefits and good works which grow out of it are almost incidental, by-products of striving towards better things. It is a cooperative effort to improve the world, by taking responsibility for yourself and the world around you, and working alongside like-minded people to make things a little better.

Freemasonry is not a religious order, or a secret society, or even really an organisation at all. It is a journey – one which hopes optimistically to lead to a better world for all of us.